Swarm
by Twitters001
Summary: ON HIATUS - Taylor Hebert triggers with a Tinker power. The lure of the Protectorate's resources for Tinkers provides too much to resist so Taylor joins the Wards.
1. Chapter 1

**Planning 1.1**

I perched on my seat, staring at the screens in front of me.

 **…68%…**

 **…69%…**

 _Come on Taylor, patience!_

I just had to wait for the diagnostics to run, and then I could activate the three drones fully. My first project would be complete and I could start being a hero. Finally.

Well, my drones would be doing the heroic work, I didn't have much more than the taser I'd built. I turned to look at it for a second; similar in design to what my drones had built in, it was powerful enough to take down a fully grown bear, and hopefully low level brutes. I didn't want to use it though, for it would mean someone had found my lab. A bunch of ideas on how to ramp up the power of the tasers came to mind and I pushed them away. I wasn't trying to kill anyone, just knock them out. The tasers could be lethal at maximum power already.

The computer beeped and I turned back.

 **…100%**

 **Diagnostics completed**

 **Power supply - No faults**

 **Primary weapon - No faults**

 **Secondary weapon - No ammunition**

 **Propulsion system - No faults**

 **Communications system - No faults**

 **Recording hardware - No faults**

 _Perfect._

I grabbed the modified smoke grenades and slotted them into each of the drones before standing back to admire them. Built out of remote control helicopters, old TVs and computers, they looked unmistakably like tinker tech. Made by a tinker with few resources though. It was the best I could do however.

Keying a code into my wrist mounted control module, I felt pride seep through me as the three drones activated, dual propellers spinning up with barely a whisper. All showed a green light so I turned back to the screens. Three video feeds popped up and I choked back a laugh. The drones' cameras were focused on me and my hair was a mess.

 _How long have I spent in here? Ah shit, its gone ten. My dad_ _'s gonna be worried._

I typed a few commands and the drones flew out of the lab. They would exit through one of the broken windows at the other end of the old warehouse, before searching for any trouble. Tonight I would start making a difference. Tonight I would be a hero.

But first, I needed to call my dad. Setting the computer to alert me if the drones noticed any violence, I picked up my phone and dialed home.

"Danny Hebert speaking."

"Uh, dad? Its Taylor, I …uh, got caught up at the library. I'll be home soon."

I flushed, I shouldn't have to lie to me dad, but I couldn't let him know. He would force me to join the Wards, and I couldn't, not yet.

"Where in hell have you been? Its too dangerous to walk back, I'm coming to pick you up now."

 _Shit._

"Uh…wait, Dad? I'll be fine, honestly. I have the pepper spray you gave me," _And a tinker tech taser._ "Besides, I'm a fast runner and the gangs don't have any territory between the library and home," _Please let me, come on dad._

"I…suppose so, dammit Taylor. Just get home safe okay? I'll expect you back in twenty minutes."

"Yes dad," I tried to keep the relief out of my voice. "See you soon, love you."

"Love you too sweetie, be safe."

He hung up and I sighed with relief. The drones could keep patrolling, I could control them from my wrist module, so I plugged in some headphones and shrugged my hoodie on. The computer needed to stay on, it was controlling the drones, but everything else I switched off before locking the doors and making my way to the side entrance I had concealed. The motion sensors hadn't alerted me so I stepped out, secured the door and began to walk home.

I hadn't made it far when a warning sound played through the headphones. _I should really have different sounds for different warnings._ I though as I pulled up my sleeve, tapping the screen to activate the command module. Drone three had an alert icon flashing. Tapping it made me gasp in shock. The screen showed a massive, well built man. He was probably over six feet and his uncovered arms and chest had intricate dragon tattoos. His muscles bunched under the plain, white shirt he wore, and the metallic, dragon mask served to make him appear even more formidable.

It wasn't just appearances though. This was Lung. The _leader_ of the Azn Bad Boys. He was rumoured to be some kind of brute/changer that got his powers from combat and the longer he stayed in it, the stronger and tougher he got.

I gasped a second time as the drone got close enough to pick up audio.

"…the children, just shoot. Doesn't matter your aim, just shoot. You see one lying on the ground? Shoot the little bitch twice more to be sure. We give them no chances to be clever or lucky, understand?"

I heard murmurs of affirmation and the drone's camera highlighted some smaller men, garbed in green and red holding handguns, a few had automatic weapons.

 _They_ _'re going after children!_

I immediately ordered the other two drones to join the third. I wasn't going to stand around when I could actually help for once, these thugs were going down. I would have to take Lung down quickly with the tasers, hopefully his minions would run after that, but the drones' main weapons had multiple charges.

I activated the combat protocols and marked Lung as a priority target. Pausing, I thought for a second, he was a brute so I could probably use excessive force on him. I shrugged, and allowed the use of lethal power levels with the tasers, as long as Lung was the target. The module beeped at me again.

 _Ah good, the drones are all ready and in position._

I gave permission to attack.

The first two drones flew towards Lung, dragon mask turning to face them as a smoke grenade was launched. Filled with smoke and pepper spray, the rapidly expanding cloud engulfed him. I smiled as I heard painful coughs and curses.

 _He may be a brute, but smoke and pepper spray hurts like hell if it gets in your lungs._

My heart pounded as the drones went in to finish him. A crunch followed by an arc of electricity came through, but my module immediately began sounding a warning.

 _What_ _…oh._

Drone one had fired its weapon, but drone two had not. And the latter had a warning status. I ordered it to back out, leaving drone one to watch the stunned boss of the ABB. Quickly running a diagnostics check, I switched to the third drone. The group of green and red thugs where either writhing in the smoke, out cold or had run off.

 _One of my drones did that? These guys do_ _ **not**_ _deserve their reputation._ I frowned. T _he ABB were scary, this shouldn_ _'t be so easy._ My pace had slowed to a walk during the fight, so I picked it up again.

Drone one suddenly registered some movement, Lung was stirring and what appeared to be scales were forming on his skin. Probably his changer power activating. He began to push himself up and I began to panic.

 _Not enough time to use a smoke grenade and I remember something about his scales being metal so_ _…._

I ordered the first drone to hit him again, and the third to repeat the attack. Lung grit his teeth at the first attack, but the second caused him to collapse again. His chest rose and fell slower this time, scales receding into his skin.

My attention turned to the diagnosis, drone two had been hit by Lung. The camera was down, as was the weapons, but the flight system was still functional, barely.

 _It won_ _'t take long to fix but that is annoyi…_ Re-watching the last seconds of video recorded showed Lung twisting and hitting the drone, reacting faster than he should have in the smoke. _They did_ _ **not**_ _mention enhanced reflexes on PHO._

A female voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Lung. Out cold. Electric burns. From tasers…on the drones?"

The camera showed a young woman, blonde hair flowed out from behind her mask.

 _Another cape._

"What the fuck are they?" A male voice this time.

"Drones. Obviously tinker tech. Semi-autonomous. Non-lethal weaponry. Flight capabilities as you can see aaaand shit. Cameras and microphones." The woman waved. "Hey there friendly tinker."

 _What. How? She had to be some kind of thinker. I need to reply_ _…uhhh._

"She's shy, probably wasn't expecting us."

I spoke up. "I was not expecting you at all, I wasn't even expecting him, how the hell did you know I'm a girl and who are you?" It came out faster than I had intended.

 _Calm, Taylor, you are nowhere near them._

"Well little miss tinker, we are _very_ grateful that you took down this fiery dragon before he got to us. What should we call you? We'd like to," a cough from out of the camera shot. "Sorry, _I_ _'d_ like to talk to you."

"Uhh I haven't got a name yet, I'm new."

"I knew you were new but that fresh? I'd better make a good impression," She smiled brightly before stiffening and cocking her head. "Ah seems like an unwanted visitor. You'd better get your drones out of here, they'll not take too kindly to a fight between villains out in the open. Oh, and call me!" she traced something in the air before running off. I ordered my drones to track them but a cloud of darkness shrouded them. By the time the drones got high enough, they were gone.

 _What did she mean? Oh, she thinks I_ _'m a villain making a play on Lung. This wasn't even intentional!_

I was about five minutes away from home now, getting into bed was appealing to me a lot now, too much excitement for one day.

 _Although, I have a lot of data on the drones_ _' performances and I tested them in combat. I can think of ways to allow them to dodge more easily, that will be required against villains with enhanced reflexes and…_

The sound of a _heavily_ modified motorcycle came through the headphones, increasing in volume. I ordered the drones to focus on the approaching vehicle and my breath caught as I recognised the hero riding it. _That_ was why the group of villains had headed off so rapidly.

The second best Tinker in the world brought his bike to a stop and stepped off. I had idolised him _before_ I had my powers and after becoming a tinker? I wanted to be as prolific and powerful as he was.

"Umm, hi Armsmaster." _Get it together Taylor, that was awakward!_

 _"_ I'm guessing you aren't a villain?"

"Wait what? No! Of course I'm not!"

"Good, wait." He held up a hand as he walked over to Lung, pausing to take his state in and jabbing something into his chest. Playing back the footage showed a syringe full of what was probably anaesthetic. "Now, explain to me what the hell you did here. You know who this is right?"

 _I held back my shock, he was angry?_

"I-I overheard him telling his men to go kill some ch-children. I couldn't just stand by and let him kill some…innocents, they had guns and I'm a hero so I stepped in!" I paused, taking a breath. "I'm nowhere near here, I was at no risk of behind hurt!". In fact, I had just turned into my road.

"Okay, this is _Lung,_ he is powerful. If he found out you set these drones on him? He'll come for revenge. The Protectorate _and_ the PRT don't take him on alone for that reason."

I froze. _What was I thinking? He_ _'s right._

"Wh-what should I do then?"

"I suggest you let me take the credit. I'll tell the press I was testing some combat drones and happened upon Lung planning an ambush against children. People will support my decision and Lung probably won't come after me. You however, I can tell from you voice that you are young. You should join the Wards. Even if words gets out, you'll still be protected."

"I'm not sure I'm ready to join the Wards, I want to build some more equipment first."

"You do know if you joined you would have access to all all the resources that any Protectorate tinker would have? You could build far more advanced drones."

My mouth opened slightly. _I could probably build the anti-grav propulsion, and create some sort of ranged stun weapon. It would be so easy to build more drones and coordin_ _…_

"Hello? Are you still…"

"Yes, yes I was…uh…thinking about your offer." _I just interrupted Armsmaster, what was I thinking?_ "I think I would like that, um, how should I contact you?"

He held up a card with his name and a contact number on. "I can't give this to you but I assume you can take a photograph of it?"

"Uh yes, its done. I record all the footage anyway." I smiled despite shaking with fear and excitement. "I'll call you tomorrow I guess?"

"Of course. Thank you and, you did a good job here."

I ordered the drones back to the warehouse and walked up to my front door. It opened before I got there. My dad was standing, looking down at me. "Who were you talking to?"

"J-just a friend, from the library…"

"Really. And what was that on your wrist?" He reached forwards and pulled my sleeve up before I could get away. The control module was exposed in all its tinker tech glory and a frown creased my dad's forehead. "What on earth is this? Taylor?"

I scratched my head with my free hand. "Well, I've been meaning to tell you something…"


	2. Chapter 2

**Planning 1.2**

The conversation with my dad had gone better than expected, that said he was still intent on grounding me.

 _He said I had broken his trust, I wanted to surprise him though, show him what I could do._ _And show the Protectorate what I could do._

"Taylor, where exactly is your lab again?"

 _Oh yeah, I'm meant to be showing him where my base is._

"Its the second right, yeah that one," I indicated the road.

My dad frowned as he turned the car into the road, "Sweetie, everything on this road is abandoned..."

"That's why my lab is here, makes it harder for people to find me,"

"Why would they want to..."

I glared at him. "Just focus on driving, please,"

He cast a worried look my way, but shrugged and continued driving. We passed houses with boarded up windows and splintered doors before I told him to pull over. A homeless man eyed the car suspiciously before dad got out. My dad may not have much muscle, but he was tall and still had a grim expression from our 'discussion' last night. Not worth troubling, even for money.

I led the way down the street, making sure noone was watching as we turned down the side of the house. We could see the warehouse now, slightly hidden by a dip in the ground. I looked at my dad and grinned. He did not grin back.

"That building does not look very safe."

"Dad, I'm a tinker. I made it safe, trust me on this." _Well the parts that I use are safe enough._

"Like you trusted me?"

I winced, "Dad, I explained why I didn't tell you. I wasn't ready for the Wards."

He just shrugged and continued walking, picking up the pace. I had to hurry to catch up, and by the time I did, we were at the warehouse.

 _He seems to have cooled off a bit... he was never like this when mum was here... and I probably shouldn't mention that right now._

My Dad turned and looked at me. "So where's the entrance?"

I smiled and pushed aside a bush, just revealing a door. This time a hint of a smile crept across his features. Pressing my thumb against the door handle caused it to open. "Fingerprint scanner," I explained before he asked the question.

The door led into a dark dusty corridor, lights flickered on once the door was shut and we began to make our way forwards."

"How long have you been, um, working here?" A noted the curiosity in his voice.

"Since about a week after..." I swallowed, "The incident at school. I'm not going back by the way. When the Wards accept me I'll attend Arcadia, and I can leave it all behind."

"I was actually going to recommend that, I don't want you going back to that place."

I nodded in response.

After half a minute more we stopped by a door on the right and I used the fingerprint scanner. The lock clicked and pushing the door open revealed a spacious room. One wall was covered in computer monitors, casting a faded, blue glow. I flipped the light switch, revealing the shadowy forms on the opposite wall to be a large workbench and numerous shelves, stacked with tools. My drones sat deactivated in one corner, one still dented from the fight.

"This is... very expensive looking Taylor," he frowned at me, "where did you get the money for this?"

"Most of my savings went on the screens, and I built the computers myself. The scrapyards had lots of old computers and devices that I could use as well."

"You haven't done anything, illegal? To earn money?"

"What? Oh god no. Dad!"

He grimaced, "I'm just making sure, I've heard rumors about the lengths tinkers will go to get materials." The damaged drone caught his eye, and he moved towards it. "Was this from your little _a_ _dventure_ last night?"

I used the control module to activate the damaged drone, causing it to drunkenly rise in the air. It hovered in front of my dad and I turned to him with some pride in my voice. "They're actually very sturdy, the shock absorption I built in kept Lung from destroying it and that distraction allowed the other drones to shock him with tasers until Armsmaster arrived to take him in!" I hesitated, "I'm not sure what my specialisation is yet. Its definitely something to do with drones and using lots of them together, not personal equipment though. I mean, I can build personal versions of what the drones use but..."

"Woah, calm down Taylor." He smiled at my rambling, "You will have plenty of time to find out what your focus is when you join the Wards. It might be selfish of me, but I'm glad your specialisation means you aren't going to be a front-line combatant.

I smiled back at him, "I'm glad too Dad, some of the villains in the city are pretty damn terrifying up close. I can just hit them from a distance with a drone, whilst eating popcorn in my lab."

He ruffled my hair, "Come on sweetie, lets get you to your interview. We can talk about that with the Protectorate then, though they'll probably want you to do patrols in person, just so people get to know you."

* * *

Sorry for the delay, its been a busy few days.

I know this is a short chapter and a bit slow paced. The next one will be more exciting, and that should be followed by a PHO interlude.

Expect the next chapter in the next 24 hours :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Planning 1.3**

I looked up at the Protectorate Headquarters with my heart hammering in my chest. Gulping, I looked to my dad. He placed a firm hand on my shoulder, "You'll knock them out sweetie, don't worry."

 _As everyone on PHO says, the Protectorate love tinkers, they never have enough. There shouldn't be any reason why I'll be rejected._

I removed his hand from my shoulder, "Lets go dad, I can do this."

"I know you can."

We walked through the sliding doors and approached the receptionist. Annoyance briefly flashed across her features before she smiled, "Welcome to the PRT Headquarters, how may I help you?"

My dad spoke up before I could, "My daughter has an appointment, Taylor Hebert?".

The receptionist's smile became genuine, "Ah, of course." She motioned to one of the security guards, who strolled over. "Could you take this, young lady, and her father to room two-oh-two?"

He nodded before turning to me, "Follow me ma'am, and please refrain from loud noises outside this room. People are working here."

He walked over to another pair of sliding doors and pressed his hand against the glass. They slid open and we followed the guard through.

As we moved through the gleaming, white corridors, we passed multiple doors which I tried to peak through. There were rooms full of banks of flashing computers, offices, some kind of armory with tinker tech...was that Armsmaster's halberd? And...I squeaked out loud, blushing as my dad and the guard paused to look at me.

"I...just saw Miss Militia on a firing range."

The guard stared at me for a few seconds, "This _is_ the headquarters, you are going to see heroes training here." Then he smirked, "Just don't make too much noise, some of them take their work very seriously. You can ask for autographs later."

"Some?" My dad looked confused.

The guard just grinned and continued walking, prompting my dad to look at me and shrugged.

Room two hundred and two was on the second floor and as we approached the door, the guard motioned to stop. He knocked and waited. A few seconds later, it opened and Armsmaster and Assault stepped out.

The tinker looked down at Assault who turned to look at me with a...shit eating grin on his face?

 _What._

"Get going. You aren't sitting in on this interview anymore."

"But Army," Assault looked him in the visor, "I need to make sure you stay relaxed and don't get too jealous."

His grin grew as Armsmaster clenched his fists.

"I suggest you leave before I get Battery to make you."

Assault held his hands up, and gave me a wink, leaving me frozen in place. _How am I meant to respond to **that**?_

"Its okay, I'm leaving, I'm leaving." He turned to walk off and paused, "Play nice Army." before chuckling and strolling down the corridor.

Armsmaster came over, "I...apologise for that." He dismissed the guard before continuing. "If you do join, you will have to get used to him."

"I-its okay," I choked a bit on my words, _get it together Taylor, "_ I didn't really know how to react."

"Doing nothing was the best thing then. Anyway, come on in."

He re-entered and we followed behind, pausing as we saw the other hero in the room. Although, why Battery had her head in her hands confused me. She jerked upright when Armsmaster coughed next to her.

"Oh sorry Taylor! I'm really sorry about Assault, he's not the best at first impressions. I'll talk to him about it later." She blushed for some reason before indicating the seats, "Please, make yourself comfortable."

I sat down next to my dad in one of the cushioned armchairs and looked around the room. One wall had a large window overlooking the street and the rest were decorated with pictures of past Wards and heroes.

"I assume you know me, I'm Battery and you've already met Armsmaster from what I've heard."

I stuttered again as I spoke, "Y-yes, through one of my drones."

She smiled at me, whilst Armsmaster remained motionless, staring at me through his visor, "You said you are a tinker? Do you know what your specialisation is yet?"

"Um, not really. Its something to do with drones, that's what all my ideas have been I mean. I want to build more and have them all work together." Armsmaster jerked forwards at that.

"How small could you make them?"

I froze for a second. _How small? I've never considered that. If I could work out a way to shrink the..._

 _"_ Taylor?" Armsmaster interrupted my thoughts.

"Oh, I'd just need to create a smaller processor and flight system. I can think of quite a few ways to..." I was interrupted again.

"I can help you with that. My specialty is miniaturisation, and if I'm correct, you're one of the rare tinkers who can use other tinker's technology. Like Dragon, in fact."

I blushed at that. _Me? Similar to Dragon?_ "Th-thank you."

"Well," Battery looked at Armsmaster and then back to me, "If your dad doesn't object, we'd love to offer a place on the Wards." She smiled at my father who replied quickly.

"As long as she's safe? I'm more than happy for her to join."

I grinned, and relief seeped through me.

"If you two can just fill in these forms and then sign here," Battery indicated several blank boxes, "then this interview will be complete."

It took us another ten minutes to go through all the paperwork. As I signed the last page and pushed it back across the desk, Armsmaster stood up and spoke, "Would you like to meet your teammates now Taylor?"

"Yeah, of course!" still grinning I stood up, "Um, they won't have their masks on, will they?".

Battery grinned back, "Yes you'll be meeting your heroes without their masks on, don't worry they're...most of them are lovely."

 _Most of them?_

 _"_ I should probably warn you. One of the wards is on probation, Shadow Stalker, and it isn't public knowledge. Her personality can be quite, _abrasive,_ so just ignore her."

She paused as the tinker walked round the desk and spoke "If she does anything, anything at all that would violate her probation, you must tell us."

I swallowed. _She almost sounds dangerous._ "I understand, Armsmaster."

"Good." He smiled beneath his visor, "Lets go meet the Wards, Mr Hebert, you'll have to wait here. A guard will be along to keep you company until we get back."

My dad nodded and we exited the room and he led the way to a lift, Battery stayed alongside me. "Just relax Taylor, I know for a fact you'll hit it off with Kid Win,".

I heard a familiar male voice from behind, "Hey puppy, I bet she'll enjoy tinkering with him."

We whirled around to see Assault leaning against the wall behind us.

"Judging by the colour of your face Taylor, you'd actually like to try that." He raised an eyebrow at us, "If only puppy would try new..." Battery ran forward and slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Not. A. Word."

"I uz ush ay-in on-ver-zay-shon!" he protested from behind her hand.

"If you want to watch Taylor meet her new teammates, you will shut up. Okay?"

Assault gave a thumbs up and Battery released her hand. The grin plastered across his face was bigger than earlier.

We turned around to see Armsmaster standing at the lift, with his arms crossed. He had chosen to just ignore Assault.

We entered the lift, ignoring Assault slapping Armsmaster on the back. He put his arm around Battery who promptly turned the colour of a tomato, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

"She loves me really Taylor, its my natural charm-ow!"

"You should be setting a good example, now shut it, this is Taylor's moment."

Armsmaster turned to me, "They're all kids, just like you. Just have fun," and the doors opened.

We stepped out, he took the lead again. We followed him down a corridor and through a solid looking door into a spacious lounge area. Sitting on a large sofa in the middle were the Brockton Bay Wards, unmasked.

Or rather six of the seven Wards were there.

Triumph, in his lion themed costume, had attractive blonde hair and a defined jaw. His expression was marred with annoyance however and he was facing away towards an joining room.

He called out "Sophia, you should be in here. We're keeping Armsmaster waiting."

A dark skinned girl in Shadow Stalker's costume stormed into the room. Annoyance creased her features as she looked at Triumph, which changed to shock and anger as she noticed me.

We recognised each other in the same instant.

Sophia Hess, the architect of my bullying, was Shadow Stalker. A ward on the same team _I_ was now a part of.

She growled across the room, "You. Are not. A fucking cape."

I just stared back at her.

 _How is she a ward. Did they not know she was bullying me? There's no way they would let me join if they knew._

"Is there a problem Miss Hess?" Armsmaster directed the question, ladled with venom, towards Sophia.

"She is the problem. I refuse to be on the same team as _her."_

* * *

Sophia and Taylor are just going to have to be best friends. I wonder who will suffer more?

Next up PHO interlude!


	4. Chapter 4

**Planning - 1.X.a**

 **Interlude - Clockblocker**

 **Welcome to the Parahumans Online message boards.**  
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 **Topic: A New Thread**  
 **In: Boards ► America ► Brockton Bay ► Protectorate ► Wards**  
 **Bagrat** (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)  
Posted On Jan 1st 2011:  
So we have a new member of the Wards in Brockton Bay and a tinker at that!

She's called UAV and lets discuss what we know about her. I'll update this post with information as we learn more.

What we know:  
-A tinker (with a drone specialisation?)  
-Recent trigger?  
-Drones have (possibly lethal?) weaponry.  
-Is working on projects with Armsmaster and Kid Win

 **(Showing page 1 of 8)**

► **Ryus**  
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:  
Her drones she showed off in the reveal looked cool.

► **Acree** (Banned)  
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:  
Ryus I reckon she'll makemore. She'll have hundreds soon and all the villains wont be able to hide!

► **Char**  
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:  
Acree We've only known about her for half an hour mate, chill. I'm sure we'll find out what UAV will build next.

► **Acree** (Banned)  
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:  
If anybody sees her on patrol, take some photos of her drones! We need to keep countbefore they get out of hand

Char What happens if its a stealth dron :O we'll never see it coming.

► **Bagrat** (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)  
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:  
Acree Char Please keep it on topic?

► **Iblis** (Cape Groupie)  
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:  
Did anyone think Shadow Stalker and Clockblocker looked realllllllyy awkward on the TV? Do you think they don't like UAV?

► **Clockblocker** (Verified Cape)  
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:  
I can confirm that I do like UAV, I was just bored out of my mind.

► **Iblis** (Cape Groupie)  
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:  
Clockblocker What about SS? You didn't say anything about herrr!

► **Clockblocker** (Verified Cape)  
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:  
Iblish I can neither confirm nor deny my teammates emotional feelings regarding the newest member of our proud and righteous team.

► **Acree** (Banned)  
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:  
Iblish Clockblocker That means she doesn't like UAV! Shadowstalker is a bitch anyway!

[USER HAS RECEIVED AN INFRACTION FOR THIS POST](Do not make personal attacks on anyone - Tin_Mother)

 **End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 6, 7, 8**

 **(Showing page 3 of 8)**

► **Tin_Mother** (Moderator)  
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:  
Acree Again, please refrain from personal attacks and keep the discussion on topic, that is, about UAV, not her teammates. Next time I will ban you.

► **Acree** (Banned)  
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:  
[DELETED](You were warned - Tin_Mother)

► **Bagrat** (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)  
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:  
BigWigBrains1

You've got evidence to support that? The drones on TV didn't show any weaponry.

► **BigWigBrains1**  
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:  
Bagrat I saw her use them against a Villain before she joined the wards.

► **OhBaby68** (Veteran Member)  
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:  
BigWigBrains1 Could you tell us which Villain it was?

► **Bagrat** (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)  
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:  
BigWigBrains1 I'd still like some evidence. Do you have any photos or video?

► **UAV** (Verified Cape)  
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:  
My drones are equipped to deal with criminals of varying toughness and are designed for non-lethal take downs only.

► **OhBaby68** (Veteran Member)  
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:  
UAV So they do have weaponry? And you didn't deny their lethality.

► **Bagrat** (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)  
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:  
UAV I'll add that to the main post, thanks.

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I sat back in the desk chair. Reading the PHO forums was far more interesting than console duty. _And seeing the gossip on Taylor was fun too, although people seem to be more interested in her gear. Not that thats unusual for tinkers._ I grinned to myself. _I should get her to build some more flashy tech, that'll make her popular._

A door slammed behind me and I grimaced. "Sophia?" _I hope she doesn't notice what I said on PHO._

"What do you want?" She spat. I swiveled the chair round to look at her, slumped on a sofa, and I smirked at the bond villain maneuver. I would make _such_ a good villain if I tried. "You laughing at me clock boy?"

I wiped the smile off my face, "I was just saying hi. Was gonna ask you how you are but...it seems obvious. You're obviously just jealous." Sophia stood sharply at that.

 _I may have over done it. Shouldn't have said that._

"I. Am. Not." She glared at me with venom in her eyes and voice, "Jealous. Of that _bitch."_

 _Nothing new there, she still loathes Taylor. She may hate me too now though._

I opened my mouth to follow up with a quick reply, but shut it again. I _really_ needed to work on not saying the wrong things at the wrong times.

"I thought so, Dennis." She gave me one last glare, before dropping back to the sofa and staring at the magazines on the table. I almost grinned at the obvious lack of interest she had but it disappeared at a sudden thought I had. _Was she looking for a fight? I know she's a psycho but that almost seems to far. Fighting one of her teammates._

I mumbled under my breath, looking at Sophia out of the corner of my eye, "Hell, do you even consider yourself part of this team anymore? Taylor is far more valuable as a tinker, and Piggot is just looking for an excuse to send you to juvie. I don't think you want to be on the team anymore."

 _Hell, I even feel a bit of sympathy for her. I'm pretty sure none of us want her on team, Aegis might be too polite to say so but he definitely agrees and he's the team leader._

She eyed me suspiciously as I voiced my thoughts aloud.

 _She's definitely looking for a fight. Probably wants to go out in a blaze of glory...or is she looking for an excuse to go villain even?_

I got up, receiving another look, more curious this time. Console duty could wait a moment, I had to voice my concerns to someone, so I walked out of the Wards area. I was going to find Armsmaster or Miss Militia, they should know whats going on and what I should do.


	5. Chapter 5

**Planning - 1.4**

I couldn't believe what I'd just seen. Sophia was Shadow Stalker? How?

Armsmaster interrupted my shock again. "Ms Hebert? It appears you know something about this, judging by your expression." His lip curled downwards slightly, "Aegis and Shadow Stalker, stay here, everyone else out." Once everyone cleared out, Battery and Assault flanking him, he turned to Aegis. The tan skinned boy looked on edge, "You are here as the team leader of the Wards, but you aren't to interfere. Clear?" Aegis nodded.

Sophia flickered her hair as Armsmaster looked at us in turn. _At least she isn't smiling._

"I don't normally disclose this, but for the purposes of this discussion I am telling you this. I have a lie detector built into my helmet, that is _already_ calibrated to you two. If we are to resolve this I expect you to answer honestly. Understand?" Sophia tensed up at that, and her eyes darted towards the door, but she nodded anyway. I repeated the gesture.

Apparently satisfied, Armsmaster continued, "I'm assuming you two have some disagreement in your civilian lives? I need to know how it will affect you working on the same team."

I spluttered at that, unable to contain myself. "Disagreement? She has been bullying me for the last two years! She stole the only friend I had and turned me into a social outcast!"

"Enough." Armsmaster held up his hand. "Sophia, have you been bullying Taylor?"

"No-"

"Don't lie."

Sophia radiated anger at that and her expression went cold. As though a mask had been removed. "Yes then. She deserved it, she's weak and only fit to be taken advantage of."

The senior tinker opened his mouth slightly, he seemed to be shaken. Setting his mouth again, he spoke to me, keeping his eye on Sophia the whole time. "Do you have anything else to add Taylor?"

"Yes." Their eyes turned to me, a slight bit of fear entering her eyes. "A few months ago, she shoved me into my own locker. It was filled...it was filled with used t...sanitary products." I felt sick thinking of it and Battery gasped behind Armsmaster. "She locked me in there and it caused me to _trigger."_ Armsmaster and Assualt's stances changed, they both looked on the verge of moving towards Sophia.

"What the fuck." Assault growled, he stepped in her direction. "You caused her to fucking trigger? _I_ am refusing to work with Shadow Stalker now." Battery, still looking sick, just grabbed his arm as Armsmaster put his hand on the hero's chest.

Sophia's face had become significantly paler, but her expression still showed anger. She tried to speak but the armored tinker stepped forward and spoke. "Shadow Stalker, you are suspected as having violated the terms of your probation. Until evidence is produced to prove otherwise, you are confined to the Wards quarters and will no longer take part in any official activities." Anger-and satisfaction?-lined his voice. "You are currently confined to _your_ room, I am confiscating your PRT issued phone and revoking your privileges as a Ward."

Aegis stepped towards her and held his hand out. _Strange, I forgot he was there._ She took her phone from a pocket and hesitated, glancing at the door again. She slapped the phone into Aegis' hand and turned and stormed towards the Wards' rooms. "The Ward turned to Armsmaster, phone held towards him, with his expression neutral, "You will-" he coughed and unclenched his fist, "You will check her phone for any evidence of course? I don't want to lose a team member for no reason," he glanced at me before continuing, "but we can't have someone like that on our team."

"Aegis, Carlos, don't worry about evidence. We will find it, and she will be dealt with accordingly."

 _He didn't make any promises._

I let out a breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding in. "How do I know she will be punished?"

Armsmaster paused, and then explained, "Removing her from active duty and confining her to the Ward's quarters is punishment. But, before you say she deserves more, anything else has to be done _properly,_ through the system. That means we have to have to collect evidence and document it, put together a case that she violated her probation." He sighed, moving to place a hand on my shoulder but I flinched. Instead, he reached up and removed his helmet.

A face framed by short, brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard looked down at me. "Taylor, I will do everything I can to get that evidence. But until then, I cannot remove her from the Wards." He smiled and stood up, mumbling something that sounded like 'unfortunately'.

Aegis, Battery and Assault all pretended not to hear that last word.

 _I-I don't think Sophia was very popular here. As Shadow Stalker or as herself._

 _"_ But what happens if you can't find any evidence? She'll just be free?" I almost shouted, disbelief lining my voice.

Armsmaster's smile faded slightly, and he spoke with a hard undertone, "Unfortunately, we can't remove _Wards_ without actual evidence. We would...be breaching our contracts. Plus, the Youth Guard," He grimaced at the name, "Would come down on us, _hard_."

I shook my head, "What about your lie detector? Can't you use that? Please, she basically _tortured_ me!"

"Taylor. This _has_ to be done legally, if it isn't...Sophia will just go free. Do you want that?"

Looking down a my feet, I realised I'd been making a scene. And Armsmaster himself had promised to see justice done.

 _I know his reputation. He prioritises being a hero above everything else. I should trust him on this._

"I-I'm sorry for that. Its j-just..."

Battery stepped forward and wrapped her arms around me. "We understand Taylor, she caused you to trigger. That's unacceptable of her. Hey, its okay."

She let go and I wiped the dampness from my cheeks, glad I didn't wear makeup. Sniffing, I looked back to the tinker. "Wh-what should I do?"

He smiled, "As a fellow tinker, I recommend building something." A few moments later, Kid Win walked into the room.

"You, uh, asked for me Col-Armsmaster?"

"Colin, Taylor knows my face now. I wanted you to take Taylor down to the workshops, show her round yours and then hers?"

I brightened slightly and looked towards the Ward.

"Uh-um come on then Taylor. Uh, call me Chris." And he hurried to the lift. Slightly confused, I followed him.

"We'll appraise your father of the situation Taylor, just try to relax and enjoy yourself." Armsmaster smiled as the lift doors closed, leaving me alone with Kid Win-Chris." The brown haired Ward stood next to me awkwardly. He was no longer in his armor-costume thing and instead wore a pair of jeans and a shirt. "So. Uh Taylor, you might not want to talk about it right now but, um, I mean I'm not interested but the other Wards are wondering what's the issue between you and Shado-Sophia." He looked at me expectantly, but flinched as we made eye contact. I did the same. "Uh, shit that was a bad starter wasn't it? Aegis or Vista should be doing this. That's Carlos and Missy by the way. So whats your specialty then? Your tinker focus?" He had been blushing throughout the whole conversation, and his cheeks were tomato like.

 _Just don't tell him that Taylor, you might have a chance to make people like you here._

"Sh-she caused me to trigger Chris. I-I don't want to say more than that."

His mouth formed an 'o' shape. "I knew she was a psycho but making someone trigger? How did she...what did she. No. You said you didn't want to say. Uh, lets talk about tinkering instead."

The doors opened and he stepped out. We were definitely below ground here. Chris turned to me and spoke, "This floor houses the workshops. There are more at the PHQ but as these are below the Wards' rooms, I tend to use these." He smiled at me before looking away, rubbing his hair. "I'll show you my workshop I guess, um, might give you some ideas. Oh, you didn't say what your specialty was." Chris raised an eyebrow at me, and I giggled slightly, despite my anger. He smiled sheepishly and started walking down the hall.

I paused before following, "I think its drones. You know, machines that operate without being directly controlled? My ones I have now are just flying ones with a taser and smoke grenades. But I want to build more and have a larger variety of weapons and tools. I've got ideas for an anti-grav system so that they can maneuver more easily and have less moving bits on the outside-"

"I could show you my hoverboard's anti-grav system, I don't know how big your drones are but you might be able to use it. Colin said something about how he thought you could use other tinker's work?"

"That would be great!" I smiled at him this time, "I haven't really tried yet, not for lack of wanting I suppose," I grinned sheepishly, "I just haven't found any spare tinker tech lying around yaknow?"

"Well I just happen to have some lying around." He stopped walking and looked down, "I, uh, haven't found my specialty yet. I just end up starting a project and not finishing it. If you, um, want to use any of my tech, feel free. I doubt I will."

I froze. I was _not_ prepared to deal with this.

 _Taylor, say something! He's your teammate now!_

"Uh Chris? I'm sure I can, uh, help you find your specialty. Perhaps you just need a, um, fresh perspective, from a new tinker?"

I put my hand on his shoulder and he looked at me, smiling slightly. "I-I'd like that. It'd be nice to have some help, Armsmaster-I mean Colin-doesn't really have time to tinker with me." He straightened up, "And besides, tinkers _always_ produce better work when they tinker together."


End file.
